18 February 2004	Wednesday	26 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 17: Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday stressed that women would have to wage a sustained struggle to get their due rights which, though guaranteed under the country's Constitution and by the religion, were not being given by society.

The speakers discussing Empowerment of Women in Pakistan at the seminar organized by the Karachi Women's Peace Committee. Ms Ghinwa Bhutto, Ms Tazeen Faridi, Prof Shaista Zaidi, Ms Nargis Rehman were prominent among those who presented their views.

They said that while education was an essential requirement, the women could not get empowerment in its trues sense until they made themselves aware of their due rights and got prepared for sacrifices and a long struggle to achieve the goal.

They said that besides creating awareness in women, male members of the society would also have to be enlightened they would have to assimilate in a transformed society with changed reality.

The speakers observed that though the things had started looking brighter, women still had to go a long way and wage a tough battle to get their due rights restored by the male-dominated society using socio-cultural traditions.

They regretted that although a large number of women was getting higher education and were active in scientific and professional fields, a little number of women utilized their education.

They said that while non-availability of equal opportunities could be one of the reasons, many of the highly qualified women were not being allowed by their families to demonstrate their talent. They speakers described the outcome as national loss as well as their personal loss.

One of the speakers stressed that union activities in educational institutions be revived as they contributed greatly to the strengthening of democratic practices in growing minds and prepared them to tolerate difference of opinion, opposition, criticism, etc. Such a tolerance, they added, was an essential element of a society.

They said that while it was necessary to revise the laws discriminatory towards women or any other section of the society, all the problems being faced by women could not be solved just by modifying or abolishing such laws. "The entire mindset of the society has to be changed," they added.

The speakers observed that most of the women faced harassment the moment they came out of their homes, either for proceeding to an educational institution or to the place of work.

They had to face harassment while passing through roads, walking through recreational spots, travelling in public transport and even while working in their offices, the speakers deplored.

They also demanded that specific laws be enacted to counter the menace of domestic violence, which was not even considered a crime by a large number of the country's law-enforcement agencies.

During the event, an interesting play was staged highlighting various aspects of exploitation, violence and victimization, sexual harassment at work places, troubles associated with second marriage, honour killing, domestic violence, etc., that the women of this society routinely experience.